Finger on the Trigger
by Numb3rsfan
Summary: After Charlie crashes his car and the man shot his window, what if Charlie was actually hit and captured?   An alternate ending to Breaking Point.
1. The Crash

**Finger on the Trigger**

by

**Numb3rsfan**

_An AU/ Alt Ending for the fourth season episode "Breaking Point"_

Rating: R

Warnings: AU with possible OOC connections, Language, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs.

Author's Notes: This is an AU fic for the 4th season episode Breaking Point so please bare that in mind while reading.

Summary: After Charlie crashes his car and the man shot his window, what if Charlie was actually hit and captured? An alternate ending to Breaking Point.

_Picks up while Charlie is driving to Don's office..._

_NUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RS_

Chapter One: **The Crash**

Night time over California; it was supposed to be peaceful, quiet. Most times it was exactly that then again...sometimes it wasn't.

The side streets were partially bathed in lights from street lights, one of which briefly illuminated a light blue Prius as he drove down the street at a steady pace. It's driver was Charlie Eppes who was heading to the FBI building to tell his brother the findings on his analysis.

From the way his hands gripped the steering wheel it was clear that Charlie was agitated. The question was why; why was he so agitated? Was it because of his interview and the subsequent ass chewing by big brother Don; that certainly had been embarrassing, or was it that big truck that had followed him the previous night?

The truck; so big that it towered over his dinky little Prius; the lights from the top of the truck shining so bright that it made seeing the road difficult.

A faint chirping sound brought Charlie out of his self absorbed musings. Glancing over to the passenger seat, on which sat his cellphone, he picked it up, hit the talk button and placed the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked.

"_Look I...I...need you to take a look at some numbers."_

It was Don; Charlie recognized his brother's voice the second it came through the speaker. The voice didn't sound mean or uptight; not like Don had been the other day. Charlie was grateful for that but he still was a little wary; not liking to be on his brother's bad side.

Numbers...Don said numbers. What sort of numbers? Numbers could mean anything until Charlie had a chance to look at them.

"Yeah...yeah I'm on my way down there right now. I just finished my threat analysis." Charlie said in to the receiver. He doubted that Don really cared about his threat analysis, but since Don was 'the boss' he needed to know of any new progress.

"_Yeah? Anything?" _Don asked.

Charlie shook his head, knowing that Don couldn't see it. "No, no nothing unusual. No one stands out." he replied.

His voice was a little bored; he didn't mean to sound that way but he was tired in more ways than one; physically tired yes but emotionally tired as well. It had been a trying week and he needed some down time but Don was counting on him; he couldn't just stop where he was could he?

No of course not, Don would kick his ass if he just stopped!

"_Really? Of all the people she took down? Where are you?" _Don asked.

Just as big brother asked that question, Charlie looked in his rear view mirror; blood pressure rising when he saw headlights from a truck; a truck that looked so much like the one that followed him the previous night!

"_Charlie?"_

Charlie still had his eyes glued to the rear view mirror, not realizing he lowered the receiver away from his mouth.

"_Hey..."_

He was still ignoring Don. What could he say? Please help, for the love of God please help didn't sound all that appealing.

Eyes still on the rear view mirror Charlie saw the truck slow down and make a right. Sighing in relief, he then realized that his brother was still trying to talk with him; the worry apparent in Don's voice.

"_Can you hear me? Are you there?"_

Putting the receiver back up to his mouth, Charlie quickly replied "Yeah uh...you know I'm sorry. Um...yeah I'll be there in like...uh fifteen minutes okay?"

"_Alright."_

"Alrighty, bye."

Charlie ended the phone call, snapping his phone closed as he placed it back on the passenger seat. Man he was wound up and paranoid! The incident the previous night was probably not as bad as he made it out to be. He wasn't being followed; it was all in his head...right?

As he passed a small construction vehicle, his eyes focused on another truck; silver with head lights as well as lights on the top. It looked exactly like...

Oh no!

Charlie's mouth dropped open in a panic when he saw the lights on the truck come on; the truck pulling out on to the street directly behind him, speeding up quickly gaining ground on his Prius.

He looked behind him; the lights from the truck blinding him. This was happening again; it wasn't all in his mind!

Grabbing his cellphone from the passenger seat he flipped it up; thumb moving to press the number 1. Once he pressed it the phone would speed dial his brother's number; his brother...Don...safety. However before he could hit the button, the truck rear ended Charlie's car with such force that Charlie dropped the phone which went sliding across the interior of the car.

Now phoneless there was no way to get in touch with Don, which meant that Charlie was on his own.

Pulse rapid, Charlie was beginning to panic. What did these people want? Why were they doing this? Who were they?

"No!" Charlie mumbled, looking both left and right, trying to find some avenue of escape. He had just crested a hill. Up ahead the road made a sharp right before it would leave the residential area. Several hours were directly in front of Charlie's car while a few trash cans were at the corner; Charlie's little Prius bearing down on them.

"Oh God...!" Charlie said as he glanced in his rear view mirror in time to see the truck speed up again to smash in to his back bumper once more. "Ahhhh!" he whimpered, the force of the collision whipping his neck and head forward and back. Pain lanced in his neck but he forced himself to keep going, keep trying to pull away. A whiplash would be the least of his concerns if he couldn't get away from whomever was in the truck.

Realizing that he was at the sharp right turn, Charlie grabbed the steering wheel of his car and jerked it in that direction, trying to make the turn without having to slow down but he was an inexperienced driver. There was no way he could have made that turn. His car spun out, smashing in to the garbage bins; spending them flying. The impact caused Charlie to bang his head on the steering wheel causing even more pain to lance through his body.

Charlie hoped the truck would continue on but it jerked to a stop, the passenger side door of the truck opening.

_~No...No!~_ he thought to himself. Reaching a shaky hand down he fumbled with the clasp to his seatbelt, finally pressing down on the red, plastic button so the clasp released.

Eyes not leaving the truck even as he began to try to throw the loose seat belt off of his body, Charlie saw the person leave the truck; a menacing look on his face.

The man lifted a hand; the glint of a pistol shining in the moonlight.

_~Oh God!~_ Charlie thought to himself as the man fired the weapon. There was the sound of breaking glass; the driver's side window now sporting a bullet hole. Still shaking, Charlie tried to move but arched his back in pain when he felt a burning pain all over his chest. Looking down right below his left shoulder he saw and felt the wet warmness of his blood soaking through his tan jacket.

He had been shot, there was nothing else to it...the bastard had actually shot him! Charlie was so shaken that at first he didn't notice the driver's side door opening; didn't notice rough hands painfully dragging him from the car. When he came back to his senses, Charlie saw that whomever was dragging him was dragging him towards the silver pickup. They were abducting him!

"No...!" Charlie murmered, now beginning to struggle against his captor but the man simply pointed his gun down and pulled the trigger once more, sending a bullet in to Charlie's right leg. Charlie yelped and went down hard, his right leg now not being able to support his weight. The man picked him up and slammed Charlie against the side of the truck, holding him there for a split moment before literally throwing him in to the floor of the pickup. He then pushed Charlie to the side and jumped in after him, closing the door behind him.

Now that Charlie was in, the driver of the pickup floored it, pulling away from the scene. What he didn't notice was a young twelve year old boy looking out the window of his bedroom in the house that was closest to the scene. The young boy had heard the speeding vehicles, heard and saw the crash and the abduction. Remembering what his parents said about dialing 911, he picked up the phone and dialed those three digits.


	2. Long Dark Road

**Finger on the Trigger**

by

**Numb3rsfan**

Chapter Two: **Long Dark Road**

An ambulance, several police cars arrived at the scene about ten minutes after the truck left. The police quickly cordoned off the area with their yellow/black ~DO NOT CROSS~ tape. The young twelve year old sat on the small swing that hung to the side of his house; his parents standing beside their son as the metro police questioned the boy about what he had seen.

On the far side of the cordoned off area, a black Suburban pulled to a stop. Don Eppes; Special Agent with the FBI jumped out of the driver seat; his team mate David Sinclair getting out of the front passenger seat and other agent Colby Granger getting out of the back seat.

At first Don hoped it was a mistake, but one look at the blue Prius and he knew it wasn't; it was Charlie's car with the dented back fender and the broken driver side window.

Showing his badge to the cop, Don crawled under the police tape, David following him while Colby went to talk with the cop who was questioning the boy.

Don and David went over to Charlie's car; the front door open. Either Charlie had opened it himself or someone had forcibly removed him from it.

Approaching the driver's seat, being wary of the glass that was on the ground, Don crouched down studying the interior of the car; quickly noticing the blood spatter on the dash and seat. Seeing that nearly sent him over the edge! Whomever had shot his brother was definitely going to pay! No one messes with his family and got away with it!

"Son of a bitch..." Don muttered, shaking his head as he stood up straight. David for his part tried to calm his boss down.

"Don, you don't know that..." David began, but Don turned on his friend and co worker, "Who else could it be David? No one else was in the car; and the way the blood spattered...it's gotta be Charlie's. I'm gonna kill em...whoever shot Charlie...I'm gonna strangle em..."

David saw Don's clinched hands and knew his boss was telling the truth; Don was pissed and it was easy to know why. Someone had messed with his family; no one was allowed to mess with his family!

A small orange cone and white chalk on the ground marked another spot where some evidence was. Approaching it, Don saw that it was another blood stain. Seeing that, Don clenched his hands again.

_~If that's Charlie's blood I swear to God...I'm gonna kill those bastards!~_ Don thought to himself even as he pretended to listen to David's banter about the possibility that it was the blood of whomever kidnapped Charlie.

Don knew that there was that small possibility that David was right, but after seeing the blood spatter in Charlie's car, Don seriously doubted it was anyone but Charlie's blood.

"Don, David."

Don and David turned around to face Colby who had come up on them.

"What'd you find out?" Don asked.

"Kalen Gage; twelve year old who goes to Nicoma Park elementary. He gave a description of what he saw to metro PD." Colby began. Seeing Don's face he decided to elaborate and tell Kalen's story to Don.

"Kalen told police that he heard what he thought were two vehicles racing. He says he saw a silver pickup with headlights hit that car," Colby pointed to Charlie's car, "after that he said he saw the car spin out and hit the garbage cans. The silver truck pulled to a stop; one occupant got out and opened fire on the car. Kalen claims that the man; late thirty's with a mustache got out and dragged Charlie out of the car, shot him in the leg and then pushed him in to the truck before they sped off. Don, the description of the truck; silver pickup, fog lights, body work on the right front fender and hood. The same truck was at the San Merino Mall the morning Bonnie Parks disappeared."

"Are you sure?" David asked.

"I saw it on the video. It...it pulled out of the parking lot only a couple of minutes after she pulled in." Colby replied.

Don was taken aback at that knowledge. Whomever was after Bonnie Parks was also after his brother?

"H...how would they even know about Charlie? Why go after him?" he asked.

David was quick to reply with, "They saw his interview. They knew he was working the case."

Colby nodded his head, saying "He's an easy target. He doesn't shoot back."

Damn, if only they had realized this sooner...if only Charlie hadn't been abducted! Don would have had agents on him twenty-four seven but now he didn't have that luxury. Now instead of one missing person; Bonnie Parks, he now had two; her and Charlie.

This was bad; very very bad. They needed someone who could do what Charlie does, well enough to be able to understand his work. Larry and Amita were the obvious choices; they knew Charlie; knew what he was working on. It would sure beat having to hire another mathematician and try to fill him or her in on everything.

Sighing, Don shook his head before heading back to his Suburban. He was just so pissed off at that moment that it wasn't even funny. Just what the hell was he supposed to tell his father? That because Charlie hadn't kept his big mouth shut he wouldn't be coming home because he was kidnapped? Oh hell no! Charlie would be coming home, they just had to find him first!

David and Colby glanced at each other before following after Don, both agents knowing when to shut up and when to speak and right now was the time to shut up; let Don brood. It was his brother that was in trouble after all.

One by one they all piled in to the Suburban; Don driving, Colby in back and David in the front passenger seat. They knew where Don was heading; back to the office. It was certainly understandable given the situation.


	3. Wounded

**Finger on the Trigger**

by

**Numb3rsfan**

Chapter Three: **Wounded**

To say that Amita was shocked when she learned the news that Charlie had been kidnapped would be the understatement of the year. She didn't know what to say so she just stood there at 9 in the morning outside of Charlie's office at CalSci, just watching as David checked the entire room. It was obvious that the check was just routine but to Amita it wasn't.

How could this have happened to her Charlie? She didn't want to admit it; didn't think that she was ready to admit that she loved him. It had gone way past the student-teacher phase; even going past the 'I like you' phase. She had definite feelings for Charlie and was sure that he had feelings for her. Charlie was her lifeline; she knew it but she was unsure whether or not he knew it.

When David told her about the string of numbers that had been found, Amita had agreed to take a look at it. She vowed that she would do whatever it would take to get Charlie back; to her and to his family.

"Okay it's clear."

Amita took a deep breath before entering in to Charlie's office.

"What were you expecting to find here? They got Charlie, there's no need for someone to be in his office." Amita said.

David just gave a short shrug of his shoulders. Don had told him to check Charlie's office for clues; it was standard procedure even though David had expected not to find anything. At least it was better than what Don and Colby were doing; the two of them having gone to Bonnie Park's house to look for clues.

David knew that Don wanted to keep working on Charlie's disappearance but they couldn't just leave the Bonnie Parks case; even for Charlie. Not since the two cases were interconnected.

"Just following orders. Maybe Charlie was getting to close to something." David suggested, but it was Amita who shook her head at that.

"No, Charlie was almost completely distracted the last time I saw him. He told me he had slept in his office that night because he thought he had been followed to the school." Amita said.

That statement sparked David's interest. Followed? Charlie had been followed before he had been captured?

"Followed? Followed how?" David asked.

"He wouldn't give me or Larry any specifics but it was clear to see that he was bothered by it." Amita said. She wished she had pressed Charlie for information but he had looked so adamant about not wanting to talk about it.

David inwardly winced but managed to keep it off of his face. He knew he shouldn't jump to conclusions but he figured that the same people who had took him had probably followed him the previous night prior to him being taken. It made sense in that it wasn't some random thing. They had been singling Charlie out.

_NUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RS _

Don and Colby were at Bonnie Park's apartment, going through everything. They didn't find much of anything; no one thing that would give them any sort of clues as to where she was.

"Her brother Clay was killed by an IED three years ago. The last family she had."

That was Colby. Closing his eyes Don turned from the white window blinds and looked at his team mate Colby Granger who was across the room, a picture of Bonnie Parks in his hands.

It was hard for Don to keep focused on this case; keep focused on Bonnie; what with his brother being missing if not hurt and all.

Don looked in to Colby's eyes and saw that he was really bothered by everything. Something about Bonnie Parks was really getting to him which was a little unusual for the younger man.

"Everything alright?"

Colby once more. What could Don possibly say? Of course he wasn't alight! Charlie was gone; wounded if not dead! How the hell could Don be alright after something like that?

Seeing the look on his boss's face, Colby smiled and shook his head a little; it was clear to him that Don was still blaming himself for Charlie's abduction.

"Man you can't blame yourself." Colby said. He watched Don shake his head; finally a reaction!

"But...what if they had killed him?" Don asked. He didn't really want to think about that; arriving at the scene to find a black body bag on the street. If that had happened Don felt that he too could have died right then and there; it would have torn him and his father apart.

"Well they didn't." Colby pointed out. Of course he didn't know that for sure; no one did but it was important to think positive. Charlie was still alive; he had to be.

It took Don several moments before his weakened emotions were finally half ways bottled up once more. He walked away from the window, past the wood dining room table.

"Well...we just gotta find out who Bonnie was after; right?" Don asked. It wasn't really a question but a statement of fact.

"Her editor said that she didn't do much work in her office but it certainly seems like she didn't do much here either." Colby said as he finally put the picture he had been holding back in it's 'place of honor.'

"Alright well, let's get out of here." Don said.

To Colby it was clear that his boss wanted to leave, but he himself didn't want to leave; not yet. There was something there; something that they were missing.

"I'm thinking about sticking around for a little bit. I kinda get this feeling there's something more to her that everybody's missing. Maybe I can figure it out, you know?" Colby said.

Don thought about the request for a moment before he said, "Alright good. I'll see you back at the office." A moment later he had left the house, the door closing behind him.

Colby stayed for hours and hours, going through a bunch of vhs tapes that had 'behind the scenes' footage of Bonnie's news reports. The more he watched the more Colby felt he understood her if not knew her. He felt his heart opening up to her and it was at that point that he knew he had to be the one to find her.

A clanking sound at the front door broke him out of his musings. Pausing the video he went to check it out. Arriving at the front door Colby saw that it was only the afternoon mail. Picking up the envelopes he looked through them; stopping when he noted two bills from a power company. One struck him as a little odd; the billing address wasn't the same as the service address!

Getting his phone out he hit 3, which was the speed dial button for Don's cellphone. One and a half rings later Colby heard, _"Eppes."_

"Hey Don, she gets two power bills delivered here. One's for an address down in the warehouse district. Maybe that's where she does her work." Colby said as he glanced at the envelope.

"_Well I...I need the address, I'm coming from the house."_

"It's 819 3rd street, number 104." Colby said. He waited as Don confirmed the address before he hung up. 819 3rd street was about three miles away. He was certainly closer than Don was and what if whomever had taken Charlie was already there ransacking the place? If he waited for Don then they could be left with nothing. No, better to ask forgiveness than permission in this case. Not thinking about it, Colby left Bonnie's house and quickly traveled to the address in question.

When he got to the address and got out of his car, he heard voices coming from the building; specially room 104; Bonnie's room. Someone was in there! Seeing the door open and three males exit; all carrying boxes and saying out they should get out of there, Colby quickly grabbed his 9 millimeter and pointed it at them as they turned the corner; now facing him.

"FBI, don't move!" Colby instructed.

The three men looked at him; two were American's, one was possibly a Mexican. But before Colby could get anywhere with them, the second man pulled out a gun and started shooting at Colby. Even as Colby took cover behind a metal dumpster, the other men took out their weapons and started firing too.

Several shots whizzed overhead; some even striking the dumpster. Damn pricks! No one shoots at Colby and gets away with it!

Taking a deep breath Colby left his cover and shot several times, taking down one of the men. From behind, Colby could hear sirens; the sweet sound of Don's approaching Suburban.

Gun still out, Colby approached the fence in time to see the other two men get in to a silver pickup with fog lights on top. No way...it couldn't be! It was the truck that the boy described! Was it the same truck that had been involved in Charlie's disappearance?

Not taking any chances, Colby fired two more times; one of his shots hitting one of the men as he got in to the passenger side of the truck, seconds before the truck peeled out of there.

"You alright?"

That was Don. Where had he come from? Oh right...the sirens!

"Yeah." Colby muttered; barely paying attention as Don hopped over the small waist height fence to check on the downed perp.

After checking to see if the guy was alive, Don got on his cellphone and contacted the rest of his team and an ambulance even though the guy was already dead.

"That was the truck that the kid...Kalen described right?" Don asked. He was breathing heavily; adrenaline clearly coursing through his body at that point.

"Yeah...You know what, I'm pretty sure I wounded a second one of those guys." Colby replied, sitting down on the stone steps with a sigh.

The way Colby moved and sighed, Don feared for a moment that he had been hit.

"You alright, you good?" He asked, watching as Colby took off his sunglasses. He didn't see any bullet holes but that didn't mean anything.

"Probably more lucky than good but I'm fine." Colby replied.

Still standing where he was; looming over the downed victim, Don took off his sunglasses as well. A firefight always did wonders for him; sometimes not in a good way.

"These guys were clearing out Bonnie's place. Take a look at this." Colby said, reaching in to one of the boxes that had been dropped. He pulled out sheets of yellow paper, on which was nothing but numbers. This was where Don needed his brother; knowing he could figure out what the numbers meant, but they didn't have Charlie any more.

"Some more of those lists of numbers like we found in her office." Colby continued.

Don had looked in another box; his sunglasses hanging out of his mouth as he perused some of the cut outs.

"Got stuff on this guy named Richard Taylor." Don said.

"Richard Taylor? He's a big real-estate developer. I wonder if that's who Bonnie was investigating?" Colby said.

He stood up and looked over Don's shoulder as he got to some pictures; quickly noticing one of the pictures; particularly who was in it.

"Wait a minute! This guy was one of the guys who just took off in the truck!" Colby said, pointing to the Mexican in the picture.

"Are you sure?" Don asked, seeing Colby nod his head a moment later.

So, this big real-estate tycoon had not only kidnapped a reporter but he had also hired these guys to kidnap Charlie? Kidnapping Bonnie Parks was a no no but kidnapping Charlie? That was crossing a line! If it was the last thing he'd do, Don swore that he would make Richard Taylor pay! No one messes with his family and gets away with it!


End file.
